Part 1
Mark P. Toohey
PO Box
4364
Alamogordo, NM 88311-4364
THE GRACE OF RECONCILIATION
Part Two
"Tell me, Brother; How were you saved?"
Who among us has not at one time or another jumped at the opportunity to testify as to how we came to know the life of Jesus? Ask that question of a Christian, and he or she will quite likely pinpoint a date on the calendar, a specific time and place, and recount with great joy every detail of how he "got saved," what brought him to his decision, how he prayed, just exactly what he did to effect the salvation of God in his life. The preachers of the Babylonian church system have imbued our thinking with the premise that salvation is entirely up to us; it is a matter of our own "free will" that we "make a decision" for Jesus, that we "accept" Christ. We have been "invited," we are told, to receive the free gift of God, and our eternal destiny hangs in the balance.
Rare indeed is the one who bears witness that he was saved two thousand years ago when Christ Jesus suffered death on Calvary's cross, that all may enter into His life. That is where my salvation, and yours, was effectuated. That is where the reconciliation of all men was secured, performed, and guaranteed. Men can only respond as the Son draws them unto Himself, as He declared He would, giving profession to the faith imparted by His Spirit. The truth is, we have done nothing to "get saved"; GOD HAS SAVED US.
Of his own experience along the Damascus road Paul testified, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me" (Gal. 1:15). Paul took no credit for having "made a decision." He could lay no claim to having "found the Lord" (as if it is Christ Himself who is lost and must be sought after). Nor was there any boast on his part to having chosen by his own "free will" to serve Jesus. It was not when he answered an altar call or prayed the sinner's prayer, but WHEN IT PLEASED GOD TO REVEAL THE SON! Paul had not been extended the courtesy of an invitation.
Nor have we. What we have received, rather, is a revelation, an unveiling of the living Christ as a result of God's foreordination and calling. And it is only by grace that we respond, "Lord, Jesus!" with the utterance of faith. The churches are filled with those who have chosen to accept Jesus; the kingdom of heaven is filled with those who have been chosen by Jesus, accepted in the Beloved.
Let us once and for all time settle it in our thinking that this is GOD'S WORK. He who has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), is He who shall fulfill completely that work in us until the day of the full manifestation of Christ (Phil. 1:6). He who has predestined us to the placement as sons through Jesus Christ in harmony with the good pleasure of His will (Eph. 1:5), is He who is at work in you, energizing you both to will and to perform that which is according to His good pleasure, toward the apprehension of His foreordained calling (Phil 2:13). "For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son...and whom HE PREDESTINED, these HE ALSO CALLED; and whom He called, these HE ALSO JUSTIFIED; and whom He justified, these HE ALSO GLORIFIED. What then shall we say to these things?" (Rom. 8:29-31). We shall say that it is only by the grace of God that men are reconciled through Christ Jesus, and brought into the fulness of His life. God foreknew. God predestined. God called. God justified. God sanctified. God glorified. It is by GRACE that you are saved.
Apart from grace, mankind can obtain nothing of the righteousness and life of God, for He has concluded all men to be under the yoke of unrighteousness. "There is NONE righteous, NOT EVEN ONE; there is NONE who understands, there is NONE who seeks for God, all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is NONE who does good, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE" (Rom. 3:10-12). In His sovereignty, God has made all men to drink the bitter cup of sin and death. All have missed the mark. From the least of men to the greatest, the death sentence is all-inclusive "that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God" (Rom. 3:19). And for what divine purpose has the Father of all subjected His creation to such a state of imposed unrighteousness? The truth is so simple, yet so profound: "For God has shut up all in disobedience THAT HE MIGHT SHOW MERCY TO ALL" (Rom. 11:32). The overwhelming realization of God's ultimate work of grace makes me want to shout together with the inspired Apostle, "Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Rom. 11:33).
"For all the fulness (of God) was pleased to dwell in Him (Christ Jesus), and through Him to reconcile all things into Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross...and although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet HE HAS NOW RECONCILED YOU in His fleshly body through death..." (Col. 1:16-22). RECONCILE -- defined by Webster as "to restore friendship or harmony; to settle or resolve differences." The Greek is apokatallasso, a compound of three words literally meaning "away, down or opposite, change." To reconcile, therefore, is to take two or more elements, in this case God and His creation, who are separated by differences, estranged through offenses, and completely out of harmony with one another, and to bring them back together again in unity, peace and friendship, resolving all strife and variance that may have existed. This is precisely what Jesus proclaimed as having been FINISHED upon the cross of Calvary.
Reconciliation is an act totally of God's doing, and by God's grace alone. Men have done nothing to obtain it. And when was the reconciliation of mankind effected? "But God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For if, WHILE WE WERE ENEMIES, WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved in His life" (Rom. 5:8-10). While men were yet sinners, while men were the enemies of God, while men turned aside and were helpless to seek after God, while every man was counted unrighteous in His sight -- THEY WERE RECONCILED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. Ponder momentarily the solemn declaration of 2 Corinthians 5:19: "God was in Christ -- RECONCILING THE WORLD TO HIMSELF, not counting their trespasses against them." It is finished.
The full scope of God's reconciliation, then, is this: God in His sovereignty has reconciled all things to Himself through Jesus Christ; all things, therefore, shall be reconciled into Him. The completed purpose of God is that all things are reconciled; the ongoing work of God, therefore, is the reconciling of all things. The human mind is not sufficient to comprehend the wherewithal of such a task, which is precisely why this is God's reconciliation. It is that which He has purposed to perform out of Himself, and into Himself. Despite the objections of men, God is faithful to bring His work to completion, for He has declared, "I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that have not been done, saying, My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure; truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I HAVE PLANNED IT, SURELY I WILL DO IT" (Isa. 46:9-11). To which we can only humbly add, AMEN!
It is apparent that we do not now see all men "saved" and serving God. That is how is should be, for God is not calling all men at the same time, but each in his own order. "Christ, the first fruits. After that those who are Christ's in His presence in the day of His unveiling. Then comes the end -- the obtaining of the final result and purpose of God's work -- when Christ delivers up the kingdom to the Father, having abolished all rule, authority, and power; having put all enemies under His feet, abolishing even the last of His enemies, death" (1 Cor. 15:23-26 paraphrased). The sense of the scripture is that each is called in orderly succession, or by series. If you have ever flown on an airliner, you surely know that the passengers are boarded by rows. Each passenger's ticket has been purchased in advance, giving him the right to board the plane, and designates which seat he is to occupy. Each passenger has the assurance that his ticket will be redeemed for a seat on the plane, and that he will certainly arrive at his destination. The back rows of the plane are the first to be boarded. (Yes, the last shall be first!) Those passengers possessing tickets for the back rows respond to their call to board. The rest must remain in the lobby awaiting the time when they, too, are called to take their seats. By and by, another group is called, then another, until finally all have boarded the plane, and the lobby is empty.
In this present age, God is calling a firstfruit people. He is choosing, calling, purging, and preparing a Son to rule in His kingdom -- Christ, the firstfruits. That is His work in this age. In the ages to come He will call yet others, bringing all who are redeemed through His blood into the fulness of Himself, subduing all powers in man which are contrary to His righteousness, vanquishing even death itself, until God is all and in all.
The work of grace that God has purposed to perform in man, indeed in all of creation, has suffered immense denigration as men have sought to form God after the likeness of their religious theology. The doctrines of religion dispense grace by the thimble-full only to "whosoever will," and bring it to a screeching halt at the end of the age when we all "get to heaven." Thereafter, it is forever relegated to some dusty volume in the celestial archives, a museum piece to be viewed despairingly by every wretched soul consigned to the flaming inferno of hell who refused their "chance" to come to Christ.
Fortunately, God has not left the work of grace and reconciliation to chance. He has not left the decision up to man, nor to the choosing of man's "free will." No, actually, God has WILLED that all men are to be saved, and has even gone one step further and COMMANDED that it be done. The plain statement of scripture is that God "will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). The Concordant Literal translation renders it beautifully: "God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth." God does not merely desire it, or hope for it, or wish for it -- God WILLS IT. Most folk have no problem accepting the fact that God calls into existence those things which are not by the decree of His Word. He WILLED that there be light; He spoke it, and it was so. He WILLED that there be the heavens and the earth, the moon and the stars, the galaxies of the far reaches of the universe, and all that they contain. He commanded, and it was. God has yet to speak a word that is not brought to pass entirely in accordance with the decree of His will. If God WILLS that all men are to be saved, it's a safe bet that that is precisely what shall come to pass.
The doctrines of religion notwithstanding, God's will in the matter cannot be undone, for God has taken an oath -- yes, God has sworn by no higher authority than Himself that it shall be completed. "Look unto Me, and BE YE SAVED, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I HAVE SWORN BY MYSELF, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and it shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (Isa. 45:22-23). Unless I err in my elementary grammar, that first sentence is an imperative statement. "Look unto Me, and BE YE SAVED." God has not merely invited all the ends of the earth to turn unto Him and be saved -- GOD HAS COMMANDED IT! As God's sovereign Word cannot return void, we may only conclude that every knee shall indeed bow before Him in worship and adoration, and that every tongue shall indeed acclaim that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father (1 Cor. 12:3).
The command has gone forth that every knee shall bow. Since God is the Sovereign over every realm of His creation, it is certainly no stretch of the imagination to envision every knee bowing to Him of things earthly, of things heavenly, of things visible or invisible. Every rulership, every authority, every power and dominion, every knee in every dimension of the creation has received the command -- thus, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW. This bowing of the knee is not, however, the forced acknowledgment of defeat by a conquered enemy before an Almighty dictator. The word bow in this usage carries the sense of bowing IN WORSHIP. J. Preston Eby has penned these words in this regard:
"The meaning is clarified when we understand the Spirit that moved Paul when he said, 'For this cause I BOW my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Eph. 3:14). No compulsory adoration there! What love and worship and adoration moved Paul to BOW low before the One whose love had completely won his heart in unmovable allegiance. He was captivated by this altogether lovely One. Humbled by the knowledge that he was the 'chiefest of sinners,' and awed by the love and mercy of the Lord, he bowed his knees -- worship and adoration freely and spontaneously flowing from every part of his being. For the present time, such bowing, such worship, is found only in the firstfruits -- those whom God has apprehended and drawn unto Himself in this age. But we read of a coming day, witnessed in spirit by the beloved apostle John -- 'And EVERY CREATURE which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth...heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever' (Rev. 5:14)" -- end quote.
God will not have forced servitude in His kingdom. Unlike man, God does not subdue His enemies by the use of terror and coercion. He does not demand submission; He wins the hearts of men through more rehabilitative means -- love, mercy, and forgiveness. A heart so won can naught by cry, "Lord Jesus!," by the Holy Spirit, and joyously bow before Him in grateful adoration.
All things that have originated out from Him, and that proceed through Him, shall be consummated into Him, with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth...and through Him to reconcile all things into Himself" (Eph. 1:10), (Col. 1:20). The Father has commanded it. Jesus Christ has finished it. All creation must obey it.
Oh, how men struggle with such a proclamation. They will go to great ends to deny the sovereignty, grace, and faithfulness of God according to the limitations of their theology in arguing that such a work of grace is not possible. Yet such an all-encompassing work cannot be fathomed until it is realized that the hyper-superabounding grace of God continues to magnify from age to age until all that He has declared has been fulfilled. His grace shall fully overwhelm and eradicate every vestige of sin and death imputed to men in every age past, and in every age to come. If it does not, then Jesus spoke amiss in declaring, "And I, if I be lifted up, WILL DRAW ALL MEN TO MYSELF" (Jn. 12:32). So also is the anointed word penned by Paul untrue; "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ ALL SHALL BE MADE ALIVE" (1 Cor. 15:22). No clearer a word could be spoken. It is this Good News that we joyously proclaim to all creation, imploring all men on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God in accordance with His solemn command.
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